The First Page of a New Chapter–Mary Seol, B.Arch24

Hello from Atlanta! Summer back home has been wonderfully busy at the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking. 

My time began with orientations around the facility, which includes: galleries and exhibition space, a classroom for workshops, the rare book library, and collections. Check out the GIANT Samson Paper Press in the lobby and Mr. Papermaker in the museum’s permanent collection gallery. Within my first week I was assisting with papermaking workshops for tours. I was pleasantly surprised by the range of ages visiting the museum from young elementary to adult. 

The museum defines paper as meeting three qualities: paper must be made of plant material, macerated or beaten into a pulp, which is then (dispersed in water and) pulled into a sheet with a mould. During tours, guests are challenged to examine the role of paper in our lives. This is always one of my favorite moments as I can see visitors slowly realizing how frequently we encounter paper every day, ranging from books to cardboard boxes to currency. I believe the combination of tours and workshops where guests physically pull their own sheets of paper challenge the museum audiences to reconsider paper– both traditions and industries behind its production, and its possibilities as a healthier, renewable, and reusable alternative to other materials. 

I was also excited to contribute my architectural knowledge by helping to model and draft the museum’s gallery spaces. For this project, a trusty tape measure and a laser measuring tool quickly helped me record measurements of the space. As it was my first time using SketchUp, I was quite nervous. Fortunately, I found myself quickly acquainting with the program. It was quite rewarding to later virtually tour a team of artists preparing for a 2025 exhibition, where I walked them through the gallery remotely. Hopefully, these models and plans will remain with the museum to aid in exhibition planning. Perhaps in the future, I may even host a workshop where I teach SketchUp to interested museum staff and volunteers.

Another exciting event was the virtual talk by guest artists James Ojascastro and Cekouat Elim León Peralta. Throughout the summer, the museum is hosting a series of virtual talks in conversation with its Bark Rhythms exhibition, featuring both traditional and contemporary pieces and artists on bark paper and bark cloth from around the world (Mexico, Hawaii, the Polynesian Islands, Indonesia, and Uganda). It was insightful to hear the artists discuss the role workshops and art played with engaging in their communities and their botany research on the traditional plants used for amate. For those interested, you can watch a recording of the talk, browse the museum website to watch other past talks, or register for the final talk of the Bark Rhythms virtual series on Hiapo from Niue & Hawaiian Barkcloth (August 07, 2024).

In the upcoming weeks, I will be learning and collaborating with the team on the upcoming fall exhibition on cardboard. We have started brainstorming fonts for the title wall, which I drafted into quick iterations on Illustrator and made a physical test with scrap cardboard. I’m looking forward to settling in more with the team, the space, and diving into the collections in the future.